Saturday, May 10, 2025

Recent Collection of Essays on Sir Gawain and the Green Knight and The Green Knight

Another recent publication on Sir Gawain and the Green Knight and David Lowery's recent adaptation, The Green Knight.

I'll start with the full citation. Book details and order information are available from the publisher at https://presses-universitaires.parisnanterre.fr/index.php/produit/unveiling-the-green-knight/.

Fruoco, Jonathan, editor. Unveiling the Green Knight. Nanterre, France: Presses universitaires de Paris Nanterre, 2024. Intercalaires: agrégation d’anglais. Print. 978-2-84016-546-0. [x2

Description:

Sir Gawain and the Green Knight is one of the oldest tales in English literature. Haunted by the passage of time, this story takes us to the frontier between tradition and innovation, between a romanticized Arthurian chivalric past and its poetic reinterpretation in the English language.

Such distinctions are further troubled in David Lowery’s film adaptation, The Green Knight, which offers a contemporary and highly stylized vision of the themes in the medieval poem. This volume explores the myriad facets of the Gawain legend through a comparative analysis of the poem and the film. Authors examine these works’ themes, motifs, and narrative techniques, while shedding light on their historical and cultural resonances. Raising issues such as self-discovery, gender politics, the relationship to nature, and questions of morality and ethics, this volume of essays provides new perspectives on Sir Gawain and the Green Knight’s continuing relevance across the centuries.

Recent Book on Sir Gawain and the Green Knight and Lowery's The Green Knight

Starting with the full citation here.

Book details and ordering information are available from the publisher at https://www.atlande.eu/nos-ouvrages/1036-anonyme-sir-gawain-and-the-green-knight-9782350309200.html.

Silec-Plessis, Tatjana, and Justine Breton. Sir Gawain and the Green Knight (Anonyme, traduction de Simon Armitage) et The Green Knight (David Lowery, 2021). Neuilly-sur-Seine, France: Atlande, 2023. Clefs concours Anglais – Littérature. Print. 978-2-35030-920-0

The book is a very detailed guide to both texts.

Description:

Traitant d’un des sujets 2024 des agrégations externe et spéciale d’Anglais, cet ouvrage propose tout ce dont le candidat a besoin pour passer les épreuves.

Comme tous les Clefs-concours de littérature anglophone, l’ouvrage est structuré en quatre parties :

-Repères : le contexte historique et littéraire;

-Thématiques : comprendre les enjeux du programme;

-Perspectives : ouvertures pour des pistes de réflexion;

-Outils : pour retrouver rapidement une définition, une idée ou une référence.

Tuesday, May 6, 2025

Monty Python and the Holy Grail at 50

Monty Python and the Holy Grail turns 50 this year, and the creators at Honest Trailers have produced this humorous video on the film.

You can also watch the film online for from YouTube for free (with ads):

Thursday, January 16, 2025

CFP Revisioning Sir Gawain and the Green Knight: A Casebook on David Lowery's The Green Knight (4/30/2025)

Revisioning Sir Gawain and the Green Knight: A Casebook on David Lowery's The Green Knight.

deadline for submissions:
April 30, 2025

full name / name of organization:
Melissa Crofton/Florida Tech

contact email:
TheGreenKnightCasebook@gmail.com

source: https://call-for-papers.sas.upenn.edu/cfp/2025/01/08/revisioning-sir-gawain-and-the-green-knight-a-casebook-on-david-lowerys-the-green.

For close to nine hundred years, Gawain has been a favorite hero in Arthurian myth, especially when it comes to his appearance in the late fourteenth-century chivalric romance, Sir Gawain and the Green Knight. While scholarship on the poem continues to expand in many fascinating ways, David Lowery’s 2021 adaptation, The Green Knight, has changed the way scholars can approach and teach the medieval poem. The editors of this book proposal seek essays that explore some of the compelling changes Lowery makes to the base text of Sir Gawain and the Green Knight, and what we can learn about the importance—or dangers—of retelling popular stories in new and inventive ways.

Current contributors for this project include medievalists, but we are also interested in hearing from individuals who specialize in film studies and popular culture. Please send a 250-word proposal to Dr. Melissa Crofton and Dr. Drew Maxwell to TheGreenKnightCasebook@gmail.com by April 30, 2025.

Last updated January 10, 2025

Wednesday, July 31, 2024

New Scholarship from Arthuriana

From the latest number of Arthuriana:

Eden, Michael. "Representing: Sir Gawain and the Green Knight." Arthuriana, vol. 34 no. 2, 2024, p. 16-61. Project MUSE, https://doi.org/10.1353/art.2024.a932121.

This article explores what we can learn from creative responses to Sir Gawain and the Green Knight, which comprises a growing visual language, inclusive of the original images of the codex, the illustrations of popular translations, contemporary artworks that respond to the poem, and the recent film adaptation. (ME)

Rasmussen, Mark. "Tweaking the Tradition: Gawain as Perceval in David Lowery's The Green Knight." Arthuriana, vol. 34 no. 2, 2024, p. 62-78. Project MUSE, https://doi.org/10.1353/art.2024.a932122.

In The Green Knight, David Lowery's 2021 film version of the Middle English romance Sir Gawain and the Green Knight, Gawain is portrayed as a Perceval figure. Recognizing this aspect of Lowery's approach to the film allows for a fuller understanding of many of the choices that the director has made in crafting it and demonstrates the work's intricate engagement with the Arthurian tradition, both in writing and on film. (MR)

Thursday, July 18, 2024

CFP ReFocus: The Films of Guy Ritchie Collection (9/30/2024)

Call for Chapters - ReFocus: The Films of Guy Ritchie

deadline for submissions:
September 30, 2024

full name / name of organization:
University of Edinburgh: ReFocus series

contact email:
refocusguyritchie@gmail.com

source: https://call-for-papers.sas.upenn.edu/cfp/2024/06/14/call-for-chapters-refocus-the-films-of-guy-ritchie

Call for Chapters - ReFocus: The Films of Guy Ritchie

Deadline for submissions:

September 30th 2024

Editors

Dr Pete Turner (Oxford Brookes University) and James Shelton (Buckinghamshire New University)

Contact Email

refocusguyritchie@gmail.com

Call for Chapters - ReFocus: The Films of Guy Ritchie

The career of Guy Ritchie encompasses an eclectic selection of films across a number of genres. His most noted work is in the arena of the gangster film, spanning from 1995’s The Hard Case to 2019’s The Gentleman, and evidences a journey from genre-defining texts (Lock, Stock and Two Smoking Barrels, 1998), through critical disappointments (Revolver, 2005)attempted returns to form (RockNRolla, 2008) and recent more successful reinventions of the British Gangster paradigm (The Gentlemen, 2019 and TV series, 2024).

Alongside this thread Ritchie has had successful forays into larger-budget studio films, including the Sherlock Holmes franchise and working for Disney on 2019’s live-action remake of Aladdin. Less critically successful studio films have also come out of this – 2015’s The Man From U.N.C.L.E and 2017’s King Arthur: The Legend of the Sword stand out as examples – and yet Ritchie has not revisited the critical dismantling received by 2002’s Swept Away. More recently forays into action films have become Ritchie’s standard output, including Wrath of Man (2021), Operation Fortune: Ruse de Guerre (2023) and recently The Ministry for Ungentlemanly Warfare (2024).

This volume will be the first comprehensive study on Guy Richie’s work, and in the manner of previous ReFocus collections seeks to contextualise, problematise and theorise the entire canon of Ritchie’s films. Proposals are welcomed from a variety of theoretical, historical and methodological approaches. Topics may include, but are not limited to:

The specific contributions by Ritchie to genre film
The cultural impact of his films
Themes that are evidenced in his films, particularly in reference to their engagement – or potential lack thereof – with gender and race perspectives
British identity in Ritchie’s films
Stylistic trademarks and directorial techniques
Representations of masculinity – including problematic, toxic or other forms of masculinity being represented
Crime and underworld narratives, including Intertextuality and Inspired Works
Collaborations with crew and actors
Cultural influences and references
Ritchie’s engagement with mainstream studio films and big budget productions, including Disney
Suggestions for other topics are also welcomed as part of this call.

We are currently soliciting abstracts of approximately 350 words for essays to be included in a book-length anthology to be published in 2025. The Films of Guy Ritchie will be a scholarly volume published in the University of Edinburgh’s ReFocus series, examining European and International directors. ReFocus features a series of contemporary methodological and theoretical approaches to the interdisciplinary analyses and interpretations of the work of these international directors. The series editors are Robert Singer, Gary D Rhodes and Stefanie Van de Peer.

Essays accepted and included in the refereed anthology should be approximately 6,000 to 8,000 words in length and referenced in the Chicago endnote style by March 31st, 2025. Please send a 350-word proposal and short bio to the editorial team by September 30th 2024 at refocusguyritchie@gmail.com.

About the Editors

Dr Pete Turner is a senior lecturer at Oxford Brookes University and the author of Found Footage Horror Films: A Cognitive Approach and a monograph on The Blair Witch Project as part of Auteur’s Devil’s Advocates series.

James Shelton is the Senior Research Administrator for Buckinghamshire New University. His research in film narrative investigates the social function of retribution and equilibrium, with previous research focusing this approach on a broad body of texts including the Sicario films, the James Bond film franchise and an upcoming text on Cult Horror films.

Last updated June 24, 2024

Friday, May 3, 2024

New Collection on Sir Gawain and the Green Knight and The Green Knight Film

My thanks to Kevin J. Harty for the information on this book:

Agrégation anglais 2024. Anonyme. Sir Gawain and the Green Knight et film The Green Knight de David Lowery (2021)

Auteur(s) : collectif, Gorgievski Sandra, Yvernault Martine

CAPES/AGREGATION

16.08.2023

Ouvrage de préparation au concours de l'Agrégation d'anglais. LIRE LA SUITE

Ellipses.

Pages : 252 pages

Format : 16,5 cm x 24 cm

Poids : 0,420 kg

Available in print and as an ebook. Full details from the publisher's website.

Table des matières

Introduction

Sandra Gorgievski et Martine Yvernault

Perfection et imperfection dans Sir Gawain and the Green Knight

Colette Stévanovitch

Aspects magiques, racines celtiques dans Sire Gauvain et le Chevalier vert

Céline Savatier-Lahondès

Gawain’s Identity in Sir Gawain and the Green Knight

Daniel R. Pike

Sire Gauvain et la catégorisation des vices

Olivier Simonin

“Make we mery” at “this hyghe fest”. The Feasting Episodes in Sir Gawain and the Green Knight

Agnès Blandeau

Le chasseur et sa proie : jeux et enjeux dans Sir Gawain and the Green Knight

Martine Yvernault Sir Gawain and the Green Knight, the Ladies and the Critics

Morgan Dickson

Gawain’s Strange Landscapes

Gillian Rudd

Loveless in a Cold Climate

Claire Vial

David Lowery’s The Green Knight: A Film Director in Conversation with a Middle English Poem

Kevin J. Harty

Table des matières Bande-son, paysages sonores et effets de sens : la partition de The Green Knight

Sandra Gorgievski

From “Not Ready Yet” to “Ready Now?” Narrative Confusion and Gawain’s Characterization in David Lowrey’s The Green Knight

Richard Burt

« Remember, it is only a game ». Jeu et illusion dans The Green Knight

Justine Breton

« Coaxing Gawain and his poem back into the Pennines » : Quelques processus de nordisation

Claire Hélie

Les auteurs

Monday, April 29, 2024

Another The Green Knight Film

I discovered a new short film, The Green Knight (2022) based on Sir Gawain and the Green Knight.

It is on Amazon for purchase but also free on YouTube.

Michael

Saturday, April 27, 2024

Trendy on The Green Knight

From the latest number of Arthuriana comes more on The Green Knight:

Tredy, Dennis. "‘The forme to the fynisment foldes ful selden’ (l.499): A Comparison of David Lowery’s Screenplay and His 2021 Film Adaptation The Green Knight." Arthuriana, vol. 34 no. 1, Spring 2024, pp. 21-44. Project MUSE, https://doi.org/10.1353/art.2024.a924597.

Abstract:

This study closely compares David Lowery’s film The Green Knight to his 2018 screenplay, detailing the many changes he made during two months of filming in 2019 and in post-production. These include changes due to location choices and budget, those regarding Lowery’s use of literary and cinematic subtexts, those made to his main characters (both male and female), and structural modifications distorting the linearity of the storyline. The analysis reveals Lowery’s organic filmmaking techniques, his changing priorities and how one’s vision at the outset of such an endeavor does indeed seldom match its final form.

Saturday, February 17, 2024

Aronstein and Finke on Mrs. Davis

From the latest Arthuriana:

Aronstein, Susan and Laurie Finke. Review of Mrs. Davis, by Tara Hernandez and Damon Lindelof. Arthuriana, vol. 33 no. 4, 2023, p. 68-70. Project MUSE, https://doi.org/10.1353/art.2023.a915339.

Narayanan on The Green Knight

From a recent issue of Arthuriana:

Narayanan, Tirumular (Drew). "'Why is He Indian?': Missed Opportunities for Discussing Race in David Lowery's The Green Knight (2021)." Arthuriana, vol. 33 no. 3, Fall 2023, p. 36-59. Project MUSE, https://doi.org/10.1353/art.2023.a910870.

Abstract:

This article explores the depiction of Gawain in The Green Knight (2021). Despite having cast Dev Patel in the starring role, the film avoids any substantive discussion of race in Camelot. By trading in optical diversity alone, it deploys BIPOC bodies without ever telling their stories. (TDN)

Sunday, January 8, 2023

Pugh on The Green Knight

Recently published in Arthuriana. Copies are available by subscription or from Project MUSE, if you're lucky enough to have access.

Pugh, Tison. "Seminal Semiotics and Pornographic Displeasures in David Lowery’s The Green Knight (2021)." Arthuriana, vol. 32 no. 3, Fall 2022, pp. 41-57. Project MUSE, doi:10.1353/art.2022.0030.

Abstract:

In The Green Knight, a cinematic adaptation of Sir Gawain and the Green Knight, director David Lowery includes a lingering shot of Gawain’s ejaculate. Lowery reframes this pornographic image as an alienating, rather than pleasureful, experience; in so doing, he probes similar themes concerning displeasure’s effects as the Gawain-Poet.

Wednesday, September 14, 2022

Harty on The Green Knight (Again)

More from Kevin J. Harty on The Green Knight:

Harty, Kevin J.. "Notes Towards a Close Reading of David Lowery’s 2021 Film The Green Knight." Journal of the International Arthurian Society, vol. 10, no. 1, 2022, pp. 29-51. https://doi.org/10.1515/jias-2022-0004

Thursday, August 25, 2022

New and Recent from Arthuriana

From recent issues of Arthuriana:

Aronstein, Susan and Taran Drummond. Review of The Green Knight, by David Lowery. Arthuriana, vol. 31 no. 3, 2021, p. 90-92. Project MUSE, doi:10.1353/art.2021.0030.

Francis, Christina. "Babylon 5, An Arthurian World in Space." Arthuriana, vol. 31 no. 3, 2021, p. 3-20. Project MUSE, doi:10.1353/art.2021.0023.

Hughes, Shaun F.D. "Some Thoughts on The Northman (2022)." Arthuriana, vol. 32 no. 2, 2022, p. 89-101. Project MUSE, doi:10.1353/art.2022.0014.

Yri, Kirsten. Review of From Camelot to Spamalot, Musical Retellings of Arthurian Legend on Stage and Screen, by Megan Woller. Arthuriana, vol. 32 no. 2, 2022, p. 117-119. Project MUSE, doi:10.1353/art.2022.0023.

Friday, June 17, 2022

CFP Out With the Old, In With the New: Changing Trajectories in David Lowery’s The Green Knight (7/30/2022; SAMLA Jacksonville, FL 11/11-13/2022)

This seemed worth cross-posting.

Out With the Old, In With the New: Changing Trajectories in David Lowery’s The Green Knight

source: https://call-for-papers.sas.upenn.edu/cfp/2022/06/06/out-with-the-old-in-with-the-new-changing-trajectories-in-david-lowery%E2%80%99s-the-green

deadline for submissions: July 30, 2022

full name / name of organization:
SAMLA: South Atlantic Modern Language Association

contact email:
mcrofton@fit.edu

For close to seven hundred years, Gawain has been a favorite hero in Arthurian myth, especially when it comes to his legendary accomplishments—and faults—in Gawain and the Green Knight. No matter how much readers may root for him in his quest with the Green Knight, many of us can’t help but wonder…what if? All of that changed with David Lowery’s 2021 film, The Green Knight, which presents viewers with an abundance of scenarios that many of us haven’t even anticipated. In doing so, Lowery has forever altered the way scholars approach the medieval poem. This panel seeks to explore some of the most powerful changes Lowery makes to the base text of Gawain and the Green Knight, and what we can learn about the importance—or dangers—of retelling popular stories in new and inventive ways. Please submit a 250 word abstract, a brief bio, and A/V requirements by July 30th to Melissa Crofton at mcrofton@fit.edu.

Last updated June 7, 2022

Thursday, August 12, 2021

The Green Knight Updates

Two updates on The Green Knight:

First, Kevin J. Harty, Arthurian film expert par excellence, has provided a review of the film (spoilers included) for the Medievally Speaking site.

Second, news broke recently of a one-night, online-screening event (at least in the US) for the film. The cost is $20 for a one-time viewing. More details are at the A24 Screening Room website.

Like many, I'd like to see (and own a copy of) the film; however, this option isn't an event I can support, especially assuming the home video version (whenever that releases) will be about the same price (or less).

Saturday, July 31, 2021

CFP The Green Knight (2021): Key Critical Perspectives (A Roundtable) (9/15/21; ICoMS Kalamazoo 5/9-14/2022)

From the ISSM listserv; posted on behalf of the organizers:

Dear All,

Please see below a CFP for K’zoo 2022 on David Lowery’s new film (which I understand is now out in the US but sadly is not opening in the UK for another fortnight!).

Cheers,

Renée & Valerie

CALL FOR PAPERS

The Green Knight (2021): Key Critical Perspectives (A Roundtable)

The International Society for the Study of Medievalism (ISSM) invites submissions for a sponsored roundtable on David Lowery’s film The Green Knight (2021) for the 57th International Congress on Medieval Studies, which will take place online from Monday 9 May to Saturday 14 May 2022.

This roundtable seeks participants to identify and discuss an element of Lowery’s long-anticipated film, starring Dev Patel. In short presentations (10 minutes), panelists are invited to consider an element of the film in light of a focal keyword inspired by Medievalism: Key Critical Terms (2014), including: archive, authenticity, authority, Christianity, co-disciplinarity, continuity, feast, gender, genealogy, gesture, gothic, heresy, humor, lingua, love, memory, middle, modernity, monument, myth, play, power, presentism, primitive, purity, race, reenactment, resonance, simulacrum, spectacle, transfer, trauma, and troubadour.

Submissions of 250-300 WORDS should be made via the Confex Online System no later than Wednesday 15 September 2021. This session is listed under “Session Selection: Roundtables.”

Queries about the session can be sent to Valerie Johnson (vjohnso6@montevallo.edu) and/or Renée Ward (rward@lincoln.ac.uk).

Tuesday, May 11, 2021

New Trailer for The Green Knight (2021)

The latest trailer for the upcoming film The Green Knight (2021) was released this week (just in time for Kalamazoo). It looks interesting (cool design for the Green Knight, for example), but I'm not sure how much of it is really true to the story of Sir Gawain and the Green Knight. We'll find out together this July, I guess.

Excalibur is not a thing, something you can hold in your hand. Excalibur is the good in you. The power to do good, to stand up for what's right, to slay dragons, to capture bank robbers. You always carry Excalibur in your heart.

Robert Tinnell, Kids of the Round Table (1995)

Saturday, May 10, 2025

Description:

Contents:

Description:

Contents:

Tuesday, May 6, 2025

Thursday, January 16, 2025

Wednesday, July 31, 2024

Thursday, July 18, 2024

Call for Chapters - ReFocus: The Films of Guy Ritchie

Friday, May 3, 2024

Agrégation anglais 2024. Anonyme. Sir Gawain and the Green Knight et film The Green Knight de David Lowery (2021)

Monday, April 29, 2024

Saturday, April 27, 2024

Saturday, February 17, 2024

Sunday, January 8, 2023

Wednesday, September 14, 2022

Thursday, August 25, 2022

Friday, June 17, 2022

Out With the Old, In With the New: Changing Trajectories in David Lowery’s The Green Knight

Thursday, August 12, 2021

Saturday, July 31, 2021

The Green Knight (2021): Key Critical Perspectives (A Roundtable)

Tuesday, May 11, 2021

Excalibur is not a thing, something you can hold in your hand.
Excalibur is the good in you.
The power to do good, to stand up for what's right, to slay dragons, to capture bank robbers.
You always carry Excalibur in your heart.